3232 said:

Was a baby when Jimi died. Prince? Once on the Controversy tour, twice on the 1999 tour, 4 times on the Purple Rain tour, once on the Hit and Run tour (Parade), once on Lovesexy, once on the Diamonds & Pearls and once on the Musicology tour. That's 11 times I've seen P in concert.

blackguitaristz said:

Thats really cool...good for u...i was lucky to see them both.I was Jimi crazy back in tha day ...in tha early 80's ,hated Prince's guts...but just couldnt deny the talent ...ended up going to the concerts just to see if he was all that ...if he could really play ...still hates his guts but his live acts stung me like a bee ...as much as i am a huge Jimi fan (7live shows) Prince IS far better overall(5 live shows so far) more range & styles on guitar,for better stage presence,way better in the studio,fuses r&b with rock,funk with punk,latin with opera,funk without bassline,most fashonable cat on the planet ...who else does all that but the 'copycat' called Prince Rodgers Nelson?
Jimi cant even sing ,but i like him ....

Jimi = past
Prince = present

colorblu said:

3232 said:

And this is coming from probably the only one (or at least one of the very few) in this thread who has actually seen Jimi live.

Who was more of an innovator and why?

sro100 said:

in·no·vate - to introduce as or as if new

Nice idea sro100, but this is why I find these type of discussions in this area of the board quite pointless.

It seems that a large majority would rather wave their Prince flags than objectively answer the question.

There's nothing wrong with choosing Prince over Hendrix for whatever the reason (age, better entertainer, narrow listening choices, not interested in music history, his butt's cuter, better dancer, knows how to apply makeup, etc), but that wasn't the question.
At least there were a few that seemed to admit that they weren't very familiar with Jimi's material.

Which then makes one wonder why even participate in the discussion.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

I'm not taking sides here, I'm just trying to be objective and Hendrix was my first choice. But people might have more serious reasons to chose Prince over Jimi than the silly one's you mention. I know it's like swearing in church, but I can't see why Jimi Hendrix has to be the only right choice here.
There is no absolute correct answer.

I don't really know anything about Jimi, I never heard he was great until after he was dead, because whe I was coming up he was just known as a drugged out hippie. So I'll say Prince.

blackguitaristz said:

Thats really cool...good for u...i was lucky to see them both.I was Jimi crazy back in tha day ...in tha early 80's ,hated Prince's guts...but just couldnt deny the talent ...ended up going to the concerts just to see if he was all that ...if he could really play ...still hates his guts but his live acts stung me like a bee ...as much as i am a huge Jimi fan (7live shows) Prince IS far better overall(5 live shows so far) more range & styles on guitar,for better stage presence,way better in the studio,fuses r&b with rock,funk with punk,latin with opera,funk without bassline,most fashonable cat on the planet ...who else does all that but the 'copycat' called Prince Rodgers Nelson?
Jimi cant even sing ,but i like him ....

Dayclear said:

Those days were different - people took drugs to get spiritual and Jimi was really a deeply spiritual guy. Of course drugs and drinking ended up really screwing him up and lead to his death, but his music was spiritual. Billy Cox said, "There was a spiritual side to the music we were creating." Prince is a lot like Jimi was in a lot of ways. Jimi was a very quiet man, very shy off stage, like Prince. He didn't open up too much. He was a very private person. Once he began playing, he transformed. Like Prince, his music was sexually charged and direct. Like Prince, Jimi copied a lot of his look from Little Richard. Jimi just idolized Little Richard. Jimi joined Little Richard's band in 1965. "He began to dress like me and he even grew a little mustache like mine." - Little Richard. Jimi said, "Little Richard wouldn't let me wear frilly shirts on stage. He said 'I'm Little Richard, I'm the King of Rock & Roll and I'm the only one who's going to look pretty.' He had another meeting over my hairstyle. I said I wasn't going to cut my hair for nobody." Jimi was considered a clown to the black community in the '60s. They use to call him the Wicked Witch from the East because of the hat he used to wear. "He plays white rock, for white people." Prince has gotten the same criticisms, especially with Purple Rain. Jimi wanted to stretch out. Jimi got a lot funkier with Band of Gypsys. The song Izabella was so funky. Jimi had steered in a new, more soulful direction. Jimi was trying to extend the music. Jimi provided musical backing for proto-rap pioneers The Last Poets in 1969. Like Prince, Jimi wanted to take his music in different directions. He wanted an organ player. Jimi wanted to have three or four horns. "I'm gonna do R & B. I'm gonna work with some horns and put together something like Otis (Redding), cause that's really where it's at.", said Jimi. Jimi was going to jam with Sly and the Family Stone in September 17 1970. Jimi was really excited about Sly. But he didn't show up because he died. In 1967 Eddie Kramer was playing some Jazz chords on the piano when Jimi said "Man, what are those chords? Show me those chords. I've got the put those in my music." Jimi wanted to make a record with Miles Davis but it was canceled because Miles said he wanted $50,000 before he goes in the studio. Jimi said "I like to write songs like Castles Made of Sand, personally. The ballads I really like to get together. That's what I really dig." Jimi's manager Michael Jeffery was putting pressure on Jimi to stick to rock. Jimi was deeply offended that Jeffery would interfere with Jimi's creative decisions. Jimi also had a dog named Prince in 1955.


[Edited 5/25/08 20:17pm]

U might as well get ready for folks to say P is a copycat. People have been saying that damn near since he started. And if Prince didn't want to be compared to Hendrix, he wouldn't have patterned himself after Hendrix his whole career. he wouldn't have named his break through album and first film Purple Haze (ooops my bad. I mean Purple Rain). Prince certainly doesn't mind even being mentioned in the same breath as Hendrix let alone being compared to the man. That's a feather in Prince's hat. A hat by the way, that he stole from Jimi. My point is, it's nothing u can do, no matter how hard u wish, Hendrix will FOREVER be seen as the Greatest Guitarist Ever. That has been documented countless of times since the 60's. And it's still going strong today. Obviously u don't read guitar magazines and music magazines for that matter. Nobody is knocking Prince. But compared to Hendrix as a guitarist, it's like comparing black and white to technicolor. Hendrix has done things on the guitar that Prince has never dreamed of. U can favor Prince but it still will never change that fact.

IWouldDie4U666 said:

Moron...

Gohi said:

HELL NO...Jimi is the greatest guitarist(so far)but Prince is a complete musical badass...overall more innovative than Jimi...but if the topic is about just guitars ,well...that would be close...Prince plays all styles
on guitars ...Jimi is just probably a sharper player on the few style he is known for...Prince more diverse,Jimi 'sharper" he is just known for guitars.
Prince,guitars & then some...

#1. He has more style
#2. He's still alive

You see I never said there was one correct answer.
What I did imply was that one should make an attempt to answer the question that was asked.
The question was Who was more of an innovator?, not Who do you like better?

I gave my answer and would have been interested to read some well reasoned innovations others thought that Prince initiated.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

rudeboynpg said:

I never heard any black people talk bad about Jimi or Prince. And this wicked witch thing, where did that come from? I am old enough to remember and we were grooving to Hendrix. Not everyone in the hood.. but I still didn't hear anyone putting him down!

theAudience said:

[. Prince hasn't had near that type of influence of other artists.

Graycap23 said:

If they knew anything about Jimi, they would know that he was murdered and not that he died of a drug overdose. This has been proven and a book about Hendrix's murder has been written about titled "Hendrix, The Last Days".

There are many people who loves Prince as a guitarist who HATES Hendrix. That's the strangest thing to me, but whatever.

blackguitaristz said:

I don't see how serious Prince heads could hate Jimi. That's just ignorance.

..And who favors Hendrix over Prince or visa verse. My thing has been if anybody is going to try to slight Hendrix to justify them digging Prince, they should know of what they speak about Hendrix before they attempt to knock the cat. U have folks on here who don't have a clue about Hendrix and it shows in their posts.

rudeboynpg said:

Really. Just because Jimi mastered the instrument does NOT mean u like the sounds he created with it. I'm one of those people who don't get Jimi.

Graycap23 said:

You love Prince's sounds but Jimi's sounds doesn't do anything for you?
"Who Knows" is extremely funky!
http://www.youtube.com/wa...znd7ud6Cw8
"If Six Was Nine"
"Them Changes"
"Izabella"
"The Wind Cries Mary"
"Crosstown Traffic"
"Hear My Train A-Comin'"
"Room Full Of Mirrors"
"Castles Made Of Sand"
"Long Hot Summer Night"
C'mon now.
[Edited 5/28/08 11:45am]